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Sunday, September 23, 2012

2012 Outlaws Baseball Tournament #12 Day #2

The Outlaws played in the second day of the NCTB Harvest Classic on the grass field at Mather. They played Hard 90 Pastime Premier in the first elimination game. The Outlaws have faced Hard 90 a number of times in the last four plus years. In the last year, Hard 90 has lost a number of players and is a shell of the team that it was several years ago.

At the plate, Jack was 2 for 3 with a run scored and a RBI. In his first at-bat, Jack chopped a 1 and 0 pitch to the right side between the first baseman, the second baseman and the pitcher. He outraced everyone to the base and was safe at first. He went to second on an error by the first baseman. In one of the more bizarre plays that I have seen, Jack scored from second on a passed ball. There was a lot of room behind home plate and the catcher was taking his time getting the ball. I looked up to see Jack running full speed taking the turn around third. With the pitcher reacting late, the ball, the pitcher and Jack all got to the plate at the same time. Jack was safe at home as the ball rolled away.

Jack drove an 0 and 2 pitch for sinking line drive into right center in his second plate appearance. The right fielder made a great sliding attempt to get to ball, but couldn't hold on. Trevor scored from second for an RBI. In his third at-bat, Jack struck out looking on a 3 and 2 pitch. With the count 3 and 2, Trevor tried to come home on a passed ball, but slammed into the pitcher and was out at home. The pitcher had to leave the game. Jack faced the new pitcher and was called out looking on a low inside pitch.

In the field, Jack played five innings at shortstop. He had one put-out and one assist. Jack handled one grounder to the left side and threw to first for the assist in the first inning. He made a nice running catch on a pop-up behind second base for the last out of the game.

In a morning that I titled adventures in pitching, the Outlaws outlasted Hard 90 by the score of 15 to 11 and advanced to the semi-final game of the tournament. The box score is here.

After a couple of hour break, the Outlaws faced the Central Valley Athletics in the second game of the elimination round. They had lost to this team by the score of 5 to 4 on Saturday.

At the plate, Jack was 2 for 3 with a run scored. He also reached base on an error. In his first at-bat, Jack hit a 1 and 2 pitch into the hole. The shortstop waited on it rather than charging it and Jack beat the throw to first. He went to third on Bailey's double and scored on Jeremy's single to right. Jack lined a 1 and 0 pitch into left center for a single in his second plate appearance. He ended the inning there when Breyton struck out. In his third at-bat, Jack hit a ground ball to the left side. The shortstop airmailed the throw over the first baseman. Jack was safe at first and went to second on the overthrow. He ended the inning there when Breyton grounded out to the pitcher and Bailey flied out to right field.

In the field, Jack played seven innings at shortstop. He had two put-outs on pop-ups to the left side. Oddly, he never fielded a grounder.

Josh gave up 6 runs in the first three innings and the Outlaws could never get back into the game. They ended up losing by the score of 8 to 3. The box score is here.

Jack had a very productive weekend. He was 4 for 9 (.444 BA) with an on base percentage (OBP) of .545. Given that Jack also reached base twice on errors, he was on base 8 of the 11 times that he came to bat! Jack also had three runs scored and one RBI.